Susana Villaran Mayor of Lima -Peru

Susana María del Carmen Villarán de la Puente is a centre-left politician in Peru, a former presidential candidate, and in municipal elections in 2010 became the first woman to be elected Mayor of Lima.

Born in Lima on 16 August 1949, she is vice-president of the Social Force Decentralisation Party (Partido Descentralista Fuerza Social, FS) and formerly worked as a journalist and a secondary school teacher.

Political life

She was a member of Lima's Metropolitan Municipality from 1983 to 1985, and co-founded with former mayor Alfonso Barrantes Lingán the Vaso de leche (glass of milk) program promoting child nutrition.

From 2002 to 2005, she served as a member of the Organization of American States's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), serving as rapporteur on child rights and later on women's rights, as Second Vicepresident of the Commission in 2004, and First Vicepresident in 2005. She took part in IACHR human rights and conflict missions in Colombia and Guatemala.